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Want to grow your brand? Start writing guest posts

As a freelance writer who has worked primarily online, I can think of no better, fairly recent phenomenon for bloggers of all sorts than guest posting. While most guest post gigs aren’t paid, it’s an incredible opportunity to grow your brand or spread the word about your writing organically.

What’s more, there are a host of other benefits that come with the territory. It truly is a win-win situation for bloggers who accept guest posts as well as for bloggers who write them. Here’s why you should get on the guest post bandwagon:

1. It brings more traffic to your site.
This is the most obvious draw of writing guest posts. When you submit a post to another blog, and in your byline you list your own blog, you’ll be potentially drawing an entirely new set of readers to discover the writing you put out on your own platform.

Of course, this means you have to place a strong emphasis on writing quality articles that directly appeal to the readers of the blog to which you are submitting. Just churning out tons of low-quality guest posts doesn’t by proxy equate to more traffic on your own site.

2. It establishes you as an expert in various fields.
Just as in the real world, on the blogosphere and the Internet at large, reputation is everything. If you write for high-quality, heavily trafficked sites in niches about which you know a lot, you’ll soon earn a solid reputation as your guest posts are retweeted and spread organically.

Establishing this sort of reputation as an expert is an instrumental part of growing your blog and your brand.

3. It improves your writing.
Writing guest posts poses a unique challenge that you won’t contend with writing for your own blog. When you write guest posts, you must learn to strike a balance between adhering to the general style and subject of the blog, while still giving the readers a fresh voice and perspective.

You’ll also have to read the blog extensively to figure out what, precisely, the typical reader wants. All these considerations naturally make you a more versatile and skilled writer.

4. It’s an easy way to build connections with other bloggers.
There’s an inherent community aspect to guest blogging that, at least in my opinion, is just as gratifying as receiving more traffic and establishing your reputation. Even if only virtually, writing guest posts will enable you to meet bloggers from all over the Internet.

The mutual exchange of fresh content for recognition is a wonderful way in which bloggers can learn from one another. Especially considering that there’s so much junk and black hat tricks out there on the Internet, guest blogging is an honest and wholesome breath of fresh air. It helps others, while in the process helping you as well. What could be better than that?

About this guest author
Alvina Lopez is a freelance writer and blog junkie, who blogs about accredited online colleges. She welcomes your comments, email her at alvina.lopez@gmail.comImage credit.

Do you publish guest posts? How are your results? Leave a comment below and let me know.